[font=Century Gothic]The young looking man sat in the pilot seat of his ship while in front of him was nothing more but the green mist of the nebula located in the Omicron Alpha system. He had hushed his on-board computer that seemed to take fancy to constantly nag about a gravitational disturbance, since he already knew the jump-hole to Omicron 90 was only 4k away from his location. The engines of the ship were silent as only the the barely noticeable bickering among the console indicators told him he was not def. Arthur gave a soft yawn as he looked at the general location of the jump hole through the large illuminator of the Rouge Gunboat he piloted.
Today was both eventful...and at the same time not... he thought to himself as he scratched his chin and pushed a holographic button, the small touch screen was built into the seat as a small image of a recording unit popped up and he sighed and took a deep breath.
''Arthur Dgahr, recording number 3015, location Omicron Alpha''
The boy paused and waited as the key words appeared on the screen before continuing.
''Today...was indeed a strange day for me...while still getting used to this new ship i find it hard to be efficient in combat situations without a crew. The Lane Hackers gladly helped me set up a primitive system that i can use to pilot this brick solo but i refer not to use my other gunship before i register it with the Lane Hackers...
I have no idea why they needed to make a registry all of a sudden, yet i shall not trouble them with pointless questions.''
Arthur then stretched out lazily in his seat and closed his eyes as the images of the day were drifting over his mind...he continued.
''There was a small invasion of the Outcast space today...seems like two ships from the so called T2B Artificial intelligence group wished to pester Alpha with their presence...I have to admit i engaged them without much eagerness, since it is their fault my ship has new welding patches on its armour...They fled into Tau 37 system after one of the ships was heavily damaged by the Dies.Irae and it stayed there for quite the time.''
He paused to upload some of the wingcam images into the message before continuing
''After that nothing much happened...until later that is. I have seen many of the nomad elite called the Keepers....yet today i met someone unique indeed. The usual interference the nomadic ships cause on my scanners give odd ''callsigns'' ..in this case the sign given to the Keeper was ''Sil''
The boy seemed to pause as if he was thinking over what to say while indeed a small blush crept over his cheeks and he chuckled...
''I must say...that the Spirits indeed are different from each other and this keeper was...a She...the lady that appeared in front of me was indeed a bit higher in posture and seemed rather familiar...not in a way as a person but as a human being...She had brown long hair..and lovely blue dark eyes...allmost black..so lovely...''
He gave a cough as he felt himself get carried away from the world in another of his daydreams and he chuckled
''She said that she heard i wish to learn from the Spirits...of course i agreed since indeed that is my cause..to live to understand...not to fear what is unknown...I asked about a place i hear often while communicating with others, its called....ehh...Earth...''
He paused as if confused by the name itself.
''Soon enough she told me that it was a human planet long ago but...their people...not the Keepers...i think she meant some other Spirits saw its destruction as needed...i did not ask why, i am sure they had their reasons. Well..at least i know now that there was such a thing called Earth...and its long gone.''
He finished with a soft chuckle and then looked out of the illuminator once more.
''But...i asked her....she seemed so human i asked was she one once...and she pointed at a place called Diaz Compound that i gather was her home....she showed me images...''
He sighed softly
''Sad images...of her death...as people experimented on her...but then...the Greater spirit came and rescued her''
Upon mentioning the Greater they call the Harbinger he shook his head...the Harbinger was gone for quite the long time now...the spirits told him that he was lost forever..now there was a new Greater, yet he was in no way like the Harbinger indeed.
''And now she is a Spirit...i mourn the loss of her life and the loss of the Greater...yet i ask myself now...will i be skilful enough in my short life to help the Keepers...I shall fight next to those who will change our future for the best...i do not wish to fight pointless and never-ending wars between our own kin...Many say i am infested..whatever that means...Yet...i was told that i am trusted enough not to be...controled''
He paused as if to think over what he just said and shook his head ''there is too much to learn...and my life is so short...''
He smiled and murmured her name again...''Sil...Sil...who are you...''
With that the young man turned off the recording device and slumped back into the pilots chair for a small nap.
[font=Century Gothic]With a trembling hand the 17yearold boy reached for his pilots char to stand himself back up, feeling dizzy and unwell...the last thing he remembered...PAIN...suck pain he had never felt in his life....that shreek...where is Sil..He looked around frantically but found that he was alone in his ship, 80k above the nebula in omicron Alpha. With a soft sigh he dropped back onto the side of the chair and rubbed his face as he still felt the tingles on his skin....such rage he had never seen in a human or Khara...He clutched his chest to try to hold himself to calm down, something he had learned to do when alone and scared...
He growled and struck his fist on the control panel and cried out as a newfound pain shot up his arm and he bit down on a finger not to be heard, moving his fingers over a few controls to deactivate the comm system he sighed and looked at the scanners with worry...the Keeper had left the system long ago, yet the other outcasts were silent and he growled to himself....why had he opened his mouth...yet if he hadnt..any keeper that would have come closer to Malta than 10k ....
He could not bare it...he was warned of the consequences if he would be ever heard ''talking'' to a Khara in Alpha in these times when even the outcast allies threatened them because their relations with the nomads...he was terrified and did not know what to do.
He remembered what had he said....that the outcasts feared for their safety...they wished to hide their relationships...it made the Keeper angry...very angry. His eyes shut open again as he remembered the scream of pure anger that Sil had crushed down on his mind and the pain that still pulsed in random parts of his body....Yet for some reason..he did feel he did the right thing telling them...yet he knew...if the outcasts ever attacked a Keeper...even if these were lies to fool the others...even if it was just to keep Malta safe....this treachery and betrayal would never be forgotten....not by the Khara, not by him.
[font=Century Gothic]''Solid ground...yet this rock is still floating in space...heh...'' Arthur murmured as he got up to power down all the necessary devices on his ship except the radar that was now working overtime. He groaned as he got up fully and stretched, hearing a few popping noises in his spine, neck, shoulders, before he opened the main hatch to the cargo hold and looked around, grinning, the five escape pods carelessly tucked away to the rear by the automatic sorter ''arm'', the corsair pilots either asleep or at least pretending to be. Arthur quickly got out his air mask and put hooked it up, shivering at the odd sensation of the breather tube inserted in his nostril. it pretty much resembled the cardi ones that the outcasts used, only, if they used it to keep their bodies supplied with the necessary drug, Arthur used it to evade it. He thought it would be better if he would not to rely on such a possessive drug. Even if the benefits of such were rather..tempting.
The young lad watched his ship be relocated to the hangars before he looked around, having landed in one of the smaller cities on Malta. He made sure if his palm computer was working, his hand brushing over a holster that held his gun and he walked towards an old Pub. For a small town, the place was rather full of people, some slaves, even a more important face as he could see. A man with two bodyguards almost painfully stood out as he passed them. He heard a shot and some gasps and screams and shook his head slightly as he carried on...It was a bad idea to be noticed here.
The pub doors opened and he looked inside, not many people were there, yet the ones that were glared to the door to see what fresh meat had the wind brought in. No one found any interest in this lad so the costumers slowly got back to their interrupted discussions.
''Oi...lad....'' he heard and looked around before noticing a man, whose face was hidden by a mask, he narrowed his eyes a little at that....a foreigner. A freelancer most probably, so he simply nodded as a greeting and turned back to the bartender to murmur something, the request making the bartender to roll his eyes ''thatl, cost ya extra, boy'' the old looking man muttered before getting out a few pills that the boy paid for instantly and gulped down and sighed. He had not tasted real food for quite a while now, mostly fearing of getting addicted as the orange dream was almost everywhere. His daydreaming was cut down by a hand on his shoulder, making him turn and look at the man that he was greeted before, pale blue eyes watching him through the dusty lenses of the mask. ''Oy...lad...when i greet ya, there must be a reason i gave a sh to do so...'' The man growled out before ordering the bartender some drink that looked oddly like Hfuel...
''And when i do talk to ya, i need ya to acknowledge me, kid...now...where did a hatchling like you get that ship...it costs a lot, ya know...'' the man watched him with a strict stare ''ya did not...'' he paused and his eyes closed a bit, as far as Arthur could tell, he was grinning ''...steal...it, have ya, boy?'' He grinned ''tell me the truth...or ill need to put some hurting on ya in space...''
The man looked down suddenly as the sudden pressure of a gun against his torso made him realize that the boy was armed. Arthur pushed him away and snorted ''get away from me...ive stolen nothing, and remember your not in your ship here and I have the gun'' he cursed himself as he tried to hid the loader level with his finger..his gun was empty, the weapons dealer was his next stop after the pub after all.
''Oi..oi...aren't we high and mighty, little pup...'' after that two other men who were watching the two slowly stood up and drew their own guns, not unlike Arthur's, they were loaded.
The bartender though had vanished in the back room...again, unlike the boy, now watching the three a bit surprised, he knew when trouble was brewing.
Outside though, the many people who now resembled a river of busy and uncaring souls, could hear a large CRACK from the small pub and a few even stopped to turn their heads to see a lad with wide eyes sliding to a halt with his left palm covering a burnt laser singe on his shoulder, his shot arm trying to find his palm device to locate in which hangar the ship was located, hearing the yells behind him he started to maneuver through the river of pedestrians to the landing deck. He was biting his tongue not to yell as the wound did hurt indeed, and he could hear the yells of the man behind him still.
Arthur ran...it hurt...all he saw to find was shelter, yet upon reaching the hangars, a new problem made him duck and cover behind some rather smelly waste containers.
Two men, dressed similar as the guy in the Pub were talking to each other, holding two rifles, their own ships nearby...an Eagle and a Falcata. He watched as another man, dressed in the usual Outcast military uniform approached them, he did not hear what he said, but as one of the guys simply showed to the Rogue Gunboat behind him, the outcast guard placed a hand on his mic device to inform something.
Arthur did not like how this was developing....yet then...the three men now were walking away. Rising an eyebrow he quietly sneaked behind the hangars instead to open his palm device.
He now watched as not long before he left, the ship was opened by the same two who he just saw leaving. The cargo hold was checked...looted...almost every inch of his ship was observed with odd looking devices.
''...find.....thing....'' ''...eep...ooking...'' ''...o...omad..r..dings'' Came the low quality audio record. Yet he did not see them place anything on his ship...inside that is.
Arthur simply shook his head...he was getting too popular it seems, the lad growling to himself ''Screw that merchant, ill load up at Ruiz'' with that he looked around once more before sneaking on board the ship and instantly taking flight into orbit.
Yet as he did so, the man, that was now watching a red dot on his scanners, grinned to himself ''yeah...yeah...that's a good boy...traitor of humanity, you just keep flying for us.''
[font=Century Gothic]''Arthur Dgahr, recording number 3016, location Omicron Alpha''
Arthur growled to himself as he bandaged up his wound before taking a small tube of odd smelling paste, applying it on another bandage and then placing it on the first, his wounded hand slamming on the controls that were embedded into the pilots chair to pause the recorder, letting out a loud curse before falling back into his chair and trying to hold back his tears....he hated to cry...made him feel weak...but it did hurt,a lot.
''T...today was a rough day indeed...i landed in that small town that always reeks of evil, sex and ignorance...i had to meet a dealer there, since that damn gun i use is still liberty junk i have grown to like...while for some odd reason you can buy liberty guns for a gunboat here, its impossible to get a Flyswatter mkIV battle cartridge, without being asked strange questions.''
He sighed and paused the recorder once again to finish bandaging himself up and now sat in his seat, his eyes closed, the only things he could hear was the occasional squeal of his navigational system protesting about being so near a gravitational anomaly.
''Sadly enough my visit was short as i was assaulted in the local pub..the guy looked like a Junker...but one of his bloodguards had an Eagle and a Falcata from what i saw...i cant tell who they were just yet yet from what i heard after i got the chance to access the recording unit of my ship, they were looking for any sign of nomad presence...my ship is currently docked at Ibiza, from what i have learned, its not safe to fly a ship that was just raided like that...thankfully the guy did not think id have another ship, though in the meantime i would rather not see a bomber in the K'hara worlds...this ship can be good against large targets but i dont think i could take on that Falcata if id ever see it again.''
He then paused....
''Oddly...there was a Lane Hacker in Alpha not so long ago...he was telling something about nomad reaserch and disruptors...i tried to convince him that they would not need to fear anything if they removed all bases from Alaska...seems like that idea was ignored. Its not like I'm not used to humans trying to hunt me down, yet this was the first time i was attacked on Malta...frankly...I'm worried now.''
He sighed as he felt his hand numb all down to his palm and smiled ''At least i got away with minor scratches..though while this heals ill need to stay off fights...its hard enough to fly a gunboat solo, yet doing so with one arm equals to trying to kill someone by flying around Omicron Beta blindfolded ...''
[font=Century Gothic]''Arthur Dgahr, recording number 3017, location Omicron Alpha''
The lad was unusually happy today as he sat relaxed, stretched out in his pilot seat with his eyelids half closed as he murmured so quietly to himself that even the voice record unit had a hard time picking up what exactly did the lad say.
''I should have made an entry yesterday, yet i was so tired...oddly enough i actually felt quite relaxed after what happened.''
He closed his eyes as he began to talk.
''It was really just another day in Alpha, a RoS raid was going on in Gamma, so since i saw that those were mostly fighters, i did not think they wished for my assistance...A good choice i must say, since i was visited by Sil once more...but...''
He paused and sat up and looked at the now cleaned up mess in his ship and chuckled.
''It was strange this time...she was not like Sil in any way, she was very...raged, her eyes were red...she was very scary indeed...the only time i remember seeing her is when i told her about the Dons order to keep the system free of any kind of communication with the nomads....seems like it upset her very much back then, yet this time she was even more angry...i had no idea why''
His smile began to fade as he remembered what happened after, his voice slowly becoming quieter, almost as if he was confused about what he was saying.
''She approached me, then grabbed hold of my head...and i saw horrible things...it began to hurt too, i tried to grasp her hand but it felt like when i touched her, the skin from my arm was torn away..it was so painful i had to let go, when she let me go, she said that that humanity is weak and corrupt, and should be eradicated. That she doesn't know why the Slomon K'hara are holding back....Yet i told her that she could kill me if it would have made her happy...oddly enough she somehow liked my response...heh...and my father always said id be bad with ladies...''
The boy then scratched his chin...
''..then again i never thought I`d meet a nomad lady...Still...She healed the wound i got two days ago, my arm is feeling quite good now....What she did after was something i have never seen, she formed a sort of a device in her palm..it seemed to be organic but...different, she then told me to lay back''
He then scratched at his chest a bit where he knew its new home was.
''I asked if she was going to infest me..or something similar, yet she declined such so i trust her. After she planted the device in my chest...odd feeling i have to add...I could finally make out the odd voices i heard when i was with many of them...when i am alone, i couldn't really hear them all, only when i was ''spoken'' to, i could make out those whispers...but now i can hear them..all the time, even if they are not around''
He smiles ''this is the second material gift i have ever received from them....the first was an Artifact from a Keeper that we call Telchine. When he was close, the item would glow and if i put my hand in the glow, i could see the nomadic cities..their homeworld...it is so beautiful.''
He coughed softly and stood up, walking over to the monitor to look at the green nebula not far.
''Yet this gift...it is more than a gift...i cant explain how happy i am now.''
When he looked back at his pilots chair he murmured to himself what Sil had told him ''He, who guards the gates of madness, delivers upon himself the mind of the purest..''
He walked back to sit on the edge of the seat and smile happily ''And forever i am honored...i wont let them down...''
The lad was in the armament room of his ship, looking around the various crates he had collected as the time went by, holding in his hands the Flyswatter light arm, he was frowning ''Well...indeed that would be the last time i ever try to buy something off the Malta markets...'' he said and threw the pistol away into the pile of other devices and turned around to look up at the higher decks of the ship, wondering if he could find some kind of small blaster or anything he could hide, while considering the need of future restocking on ammunition...ammunition he would not need to go to such odd places to buy.
He still wondered what would the day bring, yet while he did, he still listened to the murmurs around him that at the same time were not.
He could hear one of the more gleeful shouts through the comms ''...Oh wow, i just shot a fighter with a light mortar...''
To which he only sighed and shook his head ''My human brethren are amused by such things...they are amused by Pain...then they shall be much amused soon...'' He murmured to himself and looked into one of the more interesting containers before shrugging and making his way to the upper decks to the command room, looking around the rather large space he called home.
He sat down on the edge of the pilots seat and yawned before looking around....it was quite lonely in such a large ship, he would have thought so before, yet now he almost never felt lonely.
He sighed and murmured to himself ''This metal shell..constructed by my human brethren..without love...without warmth, designed to bring pain and misery, to kill the beings that it was made by....shame.''
He shook his head ''The skies are indeed odd...i saw a human brother today almost jump in glee as he was accepted by the Outcasts, he was glad that he could kill the Corsairs and the Bounty hunters...like it was the only reason he was given life...shame...The lifes of the young ones are wasted for pointless battles...''
He looked around the command room and shook his head ''no warmth...''
[font=Century Gothic]''Arthur Dgahr, recording number 3018, location Sigma 19''
The young lad indeed looked tired after what had happened this day, his ship was fine and undamaged, he himself had not a scratch, yet as he saw the nomad ship fade he could only sigh and rest his cheek against the controls as he saw three Harvester ships flying off into the distance...
''What an odd day....if someone ever finds these records then they will probably thing i had too much rum...''
He made a nervous laugh before sitting up properly and powering off the weapon systems, rerouting the energy to his engines, soon the familiar humm of the cruise engine let the idle chatter of the usual ''taxing'' slip into the background as he continued.
''Who would have thought that today i would actually Talk with a Toaster...indeed a few of them...so much has been said and so much have i learned, yet at the same time, the answers upon the given questions did nothing more than to provoke new ones...oh well''
His devices soon gain started to protest about the gravitational anomaly nearby, yet after a few moments the gunboat was cruising through the thick gas clouds of Sigma 19.
''This all started when i met one of the Guardians in Alpha, i did not know them too much at that point, the last time we met was in Omicron 99 where i was hiding from the Outcasts and Zoners alike after the incident with Freeport 11. For a moment, back then, i thought they would attack before i could explain myself, yet that was the time when i just was granted the honor of freely move about the nomad space....''
Arthur only passed when once again the warning beeps went off which he hushed until he was safely jumping back to Omicron Beta.
''Soon after we both were going on a small `trip` as i can put it...we went to Beta, then to Sigmas, and soon they started to explain what was going on..seems like they were on a mission so to speak, they had to find out someone they reffered to as the Greater.Empty, sadly enough it took me more than a hour to finally figure out they meant the harvesters... ''
He chuckled and sighed a bit ''well, soon after we finally got to Sigma 13, where indeed instantly we found three harvesters and an Osiris as well..truth to be told they all wished to engage me at once but referred to take more notice in the nomad vessel near me...of course we fled but as we did, soon enough we tried to communicate with those blasted things after the Osiris seemed to think we are not worthy for the hassle.
Truth to be told, the fact that the nomads communicate by mindspeak...or there has to be another term how to describe it...its not exactly telepathy, it was impossible for them to talk to those things, so instead i was asked to translate for them....soon enough we found that the machines weren't able to ''halt'' the harvest process for any kind of diplomatic matters, sadly, even when we offered a small ''token'' of sorts, some pilots they called ''boimass'' ...in short after that we started to question about the harvesters cause in this world...too much to explain anyway, yet soon after they did catch us, the guardian...masked, became Cold..just...faded. The harvesters seemed not to notice the ship that was right next to mine and after scanning me and declaring there is no cardi in my blood, they turned around and left''
He sighed
''A interesting day indeed...soon after, some other machine appeared and contacted me, the Voice as it was called, it soon gave me the requested information about the AI...i am quite surprised that the AI ''learned'' from harvesting human entit....damn...People i mean, gah, too much of that chatter and ill soon start to talk like one''
He gave a laugh as his ship soon positioned itself near the Omicron 90 jumphole.
''I shall put it shortly...those toasters aren't smart, since they simply learned about the surroundings from humans they harvested...they openly admitted that they cannot detect lies, even if they know the possibility of such..illogical i think, how can they be sure about some data, if they come from such a corrupt item like a human mind...pitty''
The lad then stretched out in his chair and yawned ''Today, i sleep like a dead man...Arthur out''
[font=Century Gothic]The ship was powered down as it drifted quietly almost 40 thousand meters above Malta, the ship monitoring picking up an odd sight, while the nomad ship was next to the gunboat, the young lad was sitting on the edge of the pilots chair, a brown hair lady was sitting on his knees, her arms around him while his own held her body close, their lips together...Her eyes pure black, her body wearing a robe of some sort, the female looking human..yet at the same time not.
While the comms echoed with ''...i do not think that is a good idea...'' it was silenced as a pilots helmet was thrown at the remote console, shutting it down as well as the cameras.
[font=Century Gothic]The boy sat once again in his pilots seat as he watched the green planet far away, he was floating idly near the nebula, while the nomad ship was next to him, the lady next to his seat, grinning evilly and laughing. He though was a bit saddened...he knew about the fact that his commander was to keep the rule, that no nomadic creatures were allowed near Malta, yet he did not know they were speaking the truth that they would actually harm those he called a family now, if the Outcast destroyer would have opened fire on Sil..he would open fire on his commander...indeed Arthur was now in a awkward position, from one side he was indeed grateful for the outcasts for taking him under their wing..yet he was loyal to Sil and the rest of the Slomon K'Hara...yet if he'd have to decide between his wingmates and his gods...and the lady he took fancy in, the answer was indeed as clear as the day.
He watched the woman...he indeed had learned that she had two sides..the utter contrast between the two fascinated him to no end, the Natura part was right beside him, leaning in for a kiss...their lips met, he could see the flashes and images of burning fields, rage in his mind..yet she was pleased. When he saw her dissapear, he looked back at the planet, which his human brothers protected...they said that they would protect the population that called Malta their home from the Guardians...he chuckled, he could feel Naturas fading amusement as she was leaving, he understood the Khara never cared about the planet and the petty humans..he could hear her say ''pawns...'' and he nodded sadly....
He could feel something in him changing how he felt and looked upon his brethren....yet he could not point it out, only a day ago he killed a blood dragon who was attacking the smaller Kara near the jump hole to the omicron 90 system...he died while calling him a traitor....
Arthur only sat back deeper into the semi comfortable seat and sighed as he closed his eyes, still hearing the warm sensation to hear the Others...he now slept.
[font=Century Gothic]Arthur was frowning a little as he tried to ignore the murmuring that he could hear through the comms, he sure had done it this time...
He watched the escape pod return to the planet Malta, the once perfectly fine Rogue Gunboat of an outcast was now nothing more but space junk, floating around him and the two nomad beings that were watching the carnage.
He murmured to himself at the repeated questions, all he could answer was ''The guy insulted someone i care for...'' He looked at the Natura Sil, the woman grinning, almost laughing evilly. Arthur smiled a bit and then looked at Malta...he wont get away with this, he had attacked an outcast flag bearing vessel, destroying it soon enough.
He shook his head and activated his cruise engines, following the Khara back to the safety of the nebula sheathing planet Carenea while again ignoring the angry transmissions of the pilot who had just lost his ship, his eyes now falling upon an incoming message from the 101st commander...